Berkeley Campus Reimagined as a Subway System—and a T-shirt

ITS student Dan Howard, a first year master’s student in planning and transportation, has always been interested in transit systems.

As a Navy brat whose family was stationed for four years in London, he knew his way around the London Underground better than his parents by the end of fourth grade.

So with time on his hands over the winter break, Howard reimagined the UC Berkeley campus as a public transit system with footpaths becoming subway “lines” and campus buildings and landmarks “stops.” Then he turned his whimsical design into a t-shirt for fellow transportation and planning students, as well as faculty and alumni—and anyone else who wants one.

The shirts are available now at the Teespring website but must be ordered no later than next Thursday, January 31.

The back of the shirt features the “subway” map. Certain lines and stops pay homage to other subway systems, Howard explained. The Central and District lines are named for the London tube, while the “Metro Center” is a reminder of Washington D.C.’s metro system. The front of the shirt sports the ITS Berkeley logo in blue.

Howard’s interest in transportation and planning may have begun with the London Underground, but moved above ground—about 500 feet—when he became a Navy helicopter pilot after graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy.

At that height, said Howard, “you look down at a large metropolitan area or a large city and you wonder, why does this road end right here,” he said. “You really notice the patterns of development.”